Cabinet approves rollout of National ID Act
(CNS): Following the passage of the Identification Register Bill, 2022 in parliament in December, Cabinet has now approved the commencement order for the law and paved the way for the drafting instructions for the development of regulations for both it and the co-legislation, the Cayman Islands Identification Card Act, 2022. The National ID is still relatively controversial, though the mandatory element of the law was dropped following the public backlash.
The news that the Cayman Islands Government will be moving ahead now to compile the register, which it believes will take several months, was revealed in the summary of the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, 23 May.
During the debate about the law before Christmas, Minister André Ebanks said it would take several months to create the register, giving the CIG time to raise awareness about the act and the purpose of the identity system. But since the law passed, there has been little promotion of the scheme, and no invitation has been issued yet to allow people to sign up.
When it is rolled out, the national identity card will be accessible to everyone as it will be free in the first instance. Among its benefits, it will offer all Caymanians a way of proving who they are without the need for a case full of documents outlining their family history and other personal details. Officials have also said it will make doing business with the government easier, offer access to a verified electronic signature and put Cayman on the road to a more fully digitalised economy.
During the same Cabinet meeting, the ministers also shuffled budget allocations around, increasing the equity appropriation for Miscellaneous Road Surface Upgrades by $2,500,000, which was taken from funds set aside for the telecoms submarine cable. While the CIG still seems keen on investing in this project, it appears that things are moving more slowly than planned.
According to the government’s procurement website, the planning ministry is still looking for a project management and advisory consultant to oversee the proposed plan, with the bidding process due to close at the end of this month.
The summary note also revealed that the final report from the 2022 Minimum Wage Advisory Committee has been extended to September. The members held their first meeting in January and were scheduled to finish by the end of this month.
It is almost seven years since a national minimum wage of CI$6 per hour was introduced in the Cayman Islands, when inflation was running at -2.8%. However, that basic rate has not been increased since then, despite the runaway inflation over recent years.
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Category: Laws, Local News, Politics
Seems to be a concerted effort in these comments to paint anyone who thinks ID cards are pointless as a criminal or a conspiracy loon. Not once has that person/people so in favour actually made the case FOR ID cards though.
Ummm, it will halve the size of the Civil Service, save tens of millions, make government services accessible and efficient, and greatly help expose the many undocumented amongst us. It is a great idea, whose time has come.
LOL at the blatantly obvious false posts pretending to be tax evaders and the like. The case for ID cards is so weak you have to resort to Russian style misinformation trolling. I wonder who stands to gain from these cards enough to bother?
This is dumb. We should be chipping babies at birth.
Conspiracy theorist are on blast with this one..FFS sake people, almost everyone of you carry around a cell phone that has a thousand times more information than the Government could ever collect on this National ID card that just about every country in the world has. Same goes for all of those on social media sites, like Tik Tok Facebook, Instagram and yes, for the Magas, Truth Social. You post stuff about yourselves all the time without a second though and don’t realize that all of that information is retained somewhere and by organizations that use your data to market products to you or in some cases mis-information to you..Worrying about a National ID card should be the least of your worries.
Remember when these same conspiracy theorists were telling us that we were all going to die if we took the vaccine..Well 95% of the people on these islands took it and by their theory half of us should be dead by now..Guess where the high numbers of death came from during covid…you guessed it, the unvaccinated..
Remember when these same people told us to take horse medicine and even drink bleach as a cure. Utter nonsense, there was never any proof that taking either of those helped anyone.
So people please don’t get distracted by these idiots that believe that the world is constantly interested in their non-interesting lives.
What vested interest do you have in this?
Employee? Investor? Manufacturer?
Are you dumb?
@8:17pm..Exactly! bunch of lunatics that believe everyone is after them, when no one could give two $hits about their existence..
We have had cell phones for almost 30 years…I bet if you take one of theirs away they will be quite a different story..If you are concerned about your privacy, stay off social media, don’t get a passport or driver’s license and burn your birth certificate.. Let’s see how quickly you will realize just how stupid these conspiracies theories are.
What surprises me even more is that the majority of those complaining are paper Caymanians, many of which are afraid that their home country might get some access to them, particularly their finances. I say if you have something to hide you are not deserving of Cayman Status and we should not be used as a cover for your underhandedness or possible criminal activity.
No criminal wants to carry an ID.
Won’t it be great when you can be denied services because you engaged in wrong speak or wrong think, or for lawfully protesting?
When governments are able to easily move the lines of criminality to mean anything that doesn’t serve them, criminality will be whatever they say it is and you may one day find out you’ve been made a criminal because of something you’ve said or liked.
Never happen right?
It’s all good until it isn’t.
Ridiculous strawman argument. The government already has all our information 10 times over. There’s no conspiracy. Most people simply object to the absurd cost of duplicating out passports and drivers licenses. Spending millions on ID cards for the handful of people who don’t have any form of identification seems like a very poor use of public funds.
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.
yes very good ad hominem. now can you explain why we need ID cards rather than who you imagine the people who don’t want them are? What do they achieve for me that my drivers license or cayman passport don’t?
If it could be used like the SS card in the US not to pay taxes but all employees should have one, then government shouldn’t have an excuse for letting the deadbeat dads get away from paying their child support.
What? please explain how you imagine that would work?
Get “er” done!
Don’t bother!
Unless it means the bank won’t bother me once a year for a copy of my passport which hasn’t expired since the last one they got and a utility bill what shows I live in the house they gave me a mortgage (which is still be paid off) to build, all of which needs to be ferried using ridiculous language. I think I’ll give it a pass.
This is because of the many who try to use false info to scam the bank and you. Not the banks fault. It is the fault of the many.
In a country where you need ID for banking and public assistance and even the most basic of services who can’t drive or pay for a passport, this is a good thing.
Maybe so,…. but who is it REALLY for?
Does this card give the USA any information about me? I am a US Citizen but just became a naturalized Caymanian and don’t want Uncle Sam knowing that I am here and come after me for taxes.
Pay your taxes snd zuncle Sam has no need to ask for or come looking for you. Bztzw if your bank knows you are a IS Citizen then in compliance with FACTA ya perhaps ya 😟 name done gone abroad
You do realize that all U.S. citizens have to file taxes annually, and pay taxes if they make over the annual threshold (assuming they even qualify for the threshold by spending most of the year outside the U.S.), regardless of where they reside, if they have multiple nationalities, etc.? In short, the U.S. taxes non-resident citizens, regardless of how or when that citizenship was obtained.
In fact, it would actually be to your benefit to record that you are living in Cayman as you could at least file as a non-resident U.S. citizen and utilize the threshold mentioned above, rather than paying on all earnings as if you were actually resident in the U.S. full-time. Unless of course you plan to just defraud the U.S. by no longer filing / paying at all.
A large portion of Cayman’s population (including born Caymanians) is also American whether they realize it or not, and many of them enjoy benefiting from the passport, etc. when it suits them, but don’t even bother filing taxes, much less paying – even those who know they should. If you don’t plan to meet your legal obligations then renounce your U.S. citizenship, because eventually you will get caught and be in a mess.
I am a multi-generational Caymanian born with 3 nationalities and although I have never resided in the U.S. (besides the brief vacation) I dutifully track my financials and file my U.S. taxes every year. Luckily I at least qualify as a non-resident citizen.
Where is the data held? Who is the government engaging as third party contractors for the technology, and where are they located? All questions that need answering
Such a fake post. Nice trolling Mr ID card seller.
Dealing with the siloed bureaucracy of CIG is a drag on productivity and has nothing to do with digitizing the economy.
Sounds as if you have met the planning department
The only part of this data integration exercise that is going to be client optional is the printing of a physical card for your wallet.
They could have placed that $2.5m and help people with their mortgages. Give it to CIDB to lend to the people that are really struggling with the high interest rates. Waste of money!!
@6:40am..We can’t keep depending on Government for handouts..If every dollar that came into the government was given away to people rather than investing into the infrastructure and the overall well being of the majority of the people we would become no more than a socialist country and the things we enjoy today would fall away and we would become like some of our neighbors to the East.
We have to stop with the conspiracy theories as well. Most Governments and politicians only have a short lifespan..although it seems like there are some that we can’t get rid of.. No one is planning to spy on you or take something from you because you have a national ID. This is something that is the norm in most countries around the world.
CarePay 2.0 is a KYD$9mln project
No
All they need to do is announce sign-up sessions in each district with free food and takeout styrofoam containers.
In less than two weeks they could have 100,000 people in the database. Like Jamaica there might be several people with certified different names, but target achieved.
I don’t want government or AI having all of my information readily available in one place for their/it’s own future machinations.
And if this sounds crazy, listen to what Elon Musk or Mo Gowdat have to say about AI. Both are obviously pioneering experts in AI. They fear it has the potential to wipe out humanity and I’m not being hyperbolic. Most AI experts agree. And it being made un-checked.
https://time.com/6283386/ai-risk-openai-deepmind-letter/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk-nQ7HF6k4
Don’t say no. Say hell no.
Drops the ball again.
What is needed is a mandatory social security number. The social security number can have all your identifying criteria, Ie. Caymanian, dependents, work status, eligible for social services.
More important things are: Employment status, Employment history, Immigration Status, criminal history etc etc. This way we can start weeding out the bad actors and illegals.
100% down with that and Set up govt agency to enforce it too . The Riff Raff need to GO ! It’s time we take back our island from this rabble that has descended on us .
You should really talk about the people we elect with some more respect.
WHY??????????
ID will not weed out the entitled Caymanians that continue to fill our Cause Lists and the prison. Enough with this myth that crime is imported – all evidence to the contrary!
If Caymanians cannot be entitled here, where else can they go to be entitled?
Prison, apparently!
Sure it will work as well and be as useful as the very expensive electronic licence plate system they introduced.
Gasboy, airport parking, planning
This is pointless unless it is mandatory. All the ‘good’ people will get one. All the criminals and people who want to hide their identity, or have multiple names and identities will opt out.
Bad person is stopped by police. Can I see ID? Don’t have one. Name? John Smith. Pointless.
Yeah no. Im not a criminal and refuse to get this. It’s intrusive and I don’t trust the clowns in government with data protection. Also, its first step is National ID, Second digital ID is followed by CBDC. China has a social credit system that uses ID’s like this. It’s totalitarian and intrusive.
The Cayman Islands government regularly fails to organise proper trash collection and you clowns are out here acting like an ID that will mostly just provide a central database for information the government ALREADY HAS is tyranny
The only thing this nonsensical ID ‘debate’ has proven is that education specifically regarding critical thinking skills is woefully lacking on these islands
Something I have noticed – the people regurgitating this garbage are usually the ‘covid lockdowns will never end’
And efficient, effective, and forces government to apply rules equally to everyone. It is exactly what Cayman needs.
Mark of the beast.
When they want to roll out tax these folks are firstborn this list.
Government keeps growing when they should be shrinking.
sounds like you would be more happy in a place like Florida or something.
This is all about so called ‘generational’ Caymanians being classed above ‘paper’ Caymanians.
A British Overseas Citizen, Cayman Islands Passport should be all that’s necessary to prove nationality, and those who are attempting to bring in some form of discriminatory apartheid against new citizens should be held accountable by the U.K. and ECHR, or UN.
Citizenship is citizenship, it isn’t dependent on how many years your family has lived in a country.
No- it’s not. As a non-generational Caymanian who was involved with the project I can say that with certainty. It’s primarily to allow access to a whole raft of e-Government services.
A laudable cause but why can’t we access those services using a passport or drivers license? I’m certain there is no one with my name and birthdate and passport and yet here I am yet again filling out a 10 page immigration form with the same details, same notarised passport, same notarised birth certificates same police clearance, from them(!) which they’ve had god knows how many times before. I don’t mind jumping through silly hoops but why don’t they just scan it all and keep it on record for me/us registered against my name bd and passport? It’s so inefficient FOR THEM to have to deal with all the same paperwork over and over again, it’s completely crazy. The system appears to be designed to employ as many people as possible to administer.
Apartheid Cayman Style
I think the ID should also say how many generations your descendants have been in Cayman. Because we already differentiate between first and second generation – lets go the whole hog so 8 generations like 11:37 can get the level of special attention they deserve.
Walking the plank 8 generations late.
Not a chance, I have a Cayman Islands passport, a Cayman Islands driver’s license and a Cayman Islands voter card.
This is just another waste of taxpayer money
…and none of them are evidence you are Caymanian.
7:24 are you thick? Only Caymanias can vote so if they have a voters card they are obviously Caymanian.
BOTC bobo
3.13pm No 7.24am is correct. Voters registering now have to be Caymamian but many qualified under the previous Election laws when one only had to be a Commonwealth citizen.
Wait – are you trying to say people can get a Cayman voter’s card without being Caymanian. And just how do you go about that?
The test for who is Caymanian used by the elections office is different from the one used by immigration. Only the immigration one is correct.
The last one should be. And if you think those are issued in error or deliberately in exchange for a kickback, what makes you think there wont be the same problem with ID cards? And BTW you can get a status stamp added to your passport by applying for one. The real issue then is Caymanians who haven’t applied for either. And the supposed solution is yet another piece of ID, where the application rate will somehow be magically higher. Sigh.
Surely hundreds of civil servants can be made redundant with this proposed automation? PACT should explain why we would still need anywhere near the current payroll, when full departments struggle with basic ID verification and still can’t deliver P&L financials. Let’s make a deal: we’ll consider CarePay 2.0 if they agree to lay off the staffing and leadership that doesn’t do their job, especially those distracted with DCI side-projects registered in their names.
Government is not a business that operates at a profit. The territory has to have a whole raft of services like any other, be it federal, regional or state level. Unfortunately many people do not understand this because the place is small and they only see what they want to see. Have a look at the budget and it is all there what services government has to provide.
That siloed CIG departments won’t talk to each other, is a different grade of internal dysfunction not solved by licensing serial data breachers with more detailed consumer/resident data.
The case of private identity documents wont be necessary because that supporting data will already be interlinked on CIG screens, including your race profile, stated religion, class of belongership to instruct corresponding service level. A popular idea for only one type of Caymanian with preferred surnames.
Total waste, let’s see how long before we told all of the information is on the dark web
Yes – the users of the dark web has been feverishly awaiting the introduction of an ID card in Cayman a place that 97% of the world population has never heard of aside from references to money laundering in US shows and movies
I honestly sometimes am shocked at the sheer stupidity of people who open their mouths and share what they seem to believe are intelligent points
8:18 you know identify theft is a real thing right? If all our information is easily available online and government our hacked it’s going to be very easy for unfriendly groups to get a hold of said info. I don’t trust CIG internet security.
If you want it go for it but don’t dismiss the concerns of others as stupidity.
New I.D. cards to demonstrate you are Caymanian, or more generally, your immigration status?
Yet, when I recently went to Immigration to get my status stamp placed in my new replacement Cayman passport, I was told by them that I needed to prove my status.
Which they did acknowledge that they did have proof in their system, but wanted me to demonstrate that I had proof. So, when faced with both my expired Cayman passport and my new replacement Cayman passport , I was denied my status stamp until I came back with my grant certificates.
So the department wouldn’t accept my presentation of [Both] my passports , but now we will have a plastic card that will?
You should go back and politely demand that they stamp your new passport, because you presented your old passport, which already has your Caymanian status stamped on it.
Aside from the National ID, the other two forms of tangible proof that you are Caymanian is the stamp in the back of your passport or the letter from the Chief Immigration Officer (or, if title has now changed, that titleholder).
It impossible (within lawful means) to get your Caymanian status stamp in the back of your passport without providing proof that you are a Caymanian through providing the letter from the Chief Immigration Officer.
Tried what you propose but was firmly told that it was not possible to transfer stamp on to new passport. Deputy Governor your world class civil service needs to explain this to the general public.
They might have told you that, but that’s incorrect what they told you.
Given that CBC (along with other public officials) have recently had great difficulty distinguishing the difference between lawful medication (medical cannabis vapes) and illegal drugs, it’s not surprising that simple tasks are almost impossible for them these days.
CIG is in a real mess. Much of it is self-induced. Whether by design or incompetence, but hopefully the latter (better of two evils).
It will show your vaccination status, and whether you agree with the governments agendas, in time. Starts with minimum then more and more is added then you have china.
Pandora’s Box.
Black Mirror
I cannot see nor have I read what purpose this can serve that is not already addressed by a passport and/or driver’s license. What needs to happen is for government departments to share with each other what they already have (which is plenty). Example – immigration wants a copy of T&B licenses with work permit applications – which they already have. My concern is that this is just another costly government department ?
It helps the government waste more money.
Just like the new online system that fails regularly unlike the old one, and is confusing for contractors, unlike the old one, someone connected is going to make a fortune on it.
Always follow the money.
All the different Government entities have some form of ID for most people living in Cayman – birth cert, immigration, DVES, passport office etc but its not all perfectly accessible. This ID (if it were mandatory) would create one database of details for everyone in Cayman – pre-cursor to payroll tax. Its totally unnecessary for any other purpose.
Yes because a country that has complex mandatory reporting regimes for millions of registered entities which CIMA and the Registrar of Companies can manage to do on their own couldn’t possibly organise payroll tax on 70,000 people without this ID
You are very intelligent
If you think CIMA and the government actively manage the the DBs for all those registered companies you are the intelligent one lol.
Anyone who has residency rights in Cayman can get a Cayman Passport – that doesn’t mean they are Caymanian so a passport doesn’t prove anything
Also ‘Caymanian’ is essentially a term we made up – no other country in the world recognises ‘Caymanians’ as a distinct demographic we are legally British Overseas Territory Citizens (check your passport the word ‘Caymanian’ is not mentioned once) this proposed ID and the voter ID would be the only official cards that would point to Cayman status other than an acknowledgement from CBC
A form of ID that centralises information the government already has access to and also provides minor benefits to persons is not ‘another costly government department’ you people are being maliciously shortsighted at best and just downright idiotic at worst
Ideally if they implement the system well they could phase out things like Voter IDs which get used at most once every 4 years, tie in health insurance under a single payer system and also allow it be used to interact with government digitally so we can all spend less time in lines wasting time and energy on things that could be done online except for the fact that the Gov currently has no way to verify identity that is widely in circulation
“Caymanian” is not a term we made up- especially because of some passport issues. The term Caymanian has been used for well over 100 years.
The British themselves used it to describe us. Commissioner George Hirst describes “Caymanians” in his 1908 Handbook which provided a comprehensive report of the going’s on at the time.
So to hell with this narrative of Caymanians not existing. Our problem is everyone wants to be one.
Everyone wants to be a British Overseas Territories citizen.
BOTC bobo
we all need driving liscenses to drive a car…or passports to travel…so not sure where all the big brother nonsense is coming from.
if this makes life easier with cig services then it should be for everyone.
the innocent have nothing to fear.
So if I get pulled over by police they’ll scan by ID and see my whole family history and other personal details? Come up with a better joke.
Ah yes the top secret – need to know information
FAMILY HISTORY
You will be shocked when you discover these magical inventions called birth certificates
Cayman Islands Authorities – You issued me a birth certificate almost sixty-six years ago. Approximately 9 months prior, my identity was formed! In 1974 I qualified for a driver’s license, which you issued. Some years later, you issued me a voter’s card! Those are ALL the ID’s I need, want or will accept!!
Stick a fork in me and call me DONE!!
LOL good one:)
The minimum wage needs to be increased. It’s so wrong that it hasn’t been increased in all these years. Bermuda just approved a minimum wage of $16.40 per hours. Their $ is pegged 1 to 1 against USD. Their cost of living is similar to ours. Our KYD 6 per hour is wrong. No I am not on minimum wage. I am Caymanian & pay my helper KYD 15 per hour (& I pay her medical 100%). She is my employee. Not my indentured servant.
Yeah, that’s a no from me. Im not having anything to do with the national ID. If you want proof I’m Caymanian you can look at my passport.
Show me how that provides proof.
Mine does not so your help is appreciated.
Signed 8th gen Caymanian.
The CI Status stamp you can add to it.
You have a BOTC passport. Doesn’t mean you’re Caymanian.
It does if you have a status stamp in it
I am sure nothing is going to be rolled out before the elections.
next step CBDC, welcome to Agenda 2030
Spot on. Give this poster a cigar.
Big Brother can kiss my ass.
If you think ‘big brother’ is Cayman’s government which is essentially a city council and not the companies that know what time you wake up, what type of porn you like and can track you all day every day on the phone that is likely stuck in your hand for most of your waking hours
You people need to get a grip
Why not both?